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As they flirt with classmates, some teen girls are sending explicit cell-phone pictures and video messages that sometimes spread far beyond their intended recipients, as messages are forwarded to friends or even posted online. "I've seen everything from your basic striptease to sexual acts being performed," said Reynoldsburg police Detective Brian Marvin, a member of the FBI Cyber Crime Task Force of Central Ohio. "You name it, they will do it at their home under this perceived anonymity."

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Rather than simply pressuring teachers to raise student performance, policymakers should ensure educators have all the resources and knowledge necessary to do so, write Stephanie Hirsh and Joellen Killion of the non-profit National Staff Development Council. Research suggests that collaboration, mentoring and instructional coaching, which are not always part of professional development programs for educators, are key elements in creating successful schools, they write.

As Minnesota prepares for its first online standardized science test, some educators are concerned they will encounter some of the same glitches that invalidated 1,300 tests in a computerized math exam administered by the state last year.

Zimbabwe's education system was one of the best in Africa about a decade ago with 70% of students passing exit exams, but rampant inflation and pay of about $70 a month reportedly led some 25,000 educators to flee the country last year. An additional 8,000 educators have left this year, and there are said to be 150,000 open teaching positions that need filling.

Donna Pasko, a former tobacco user and current school nurse at Palmetto High in Florida, has created a SWAT team -- Students Working Against Tobacco -- to educate teens about the dangers of smoking. Pasko says she was surprised when 50 students joined the club at its inception, and it quickly became one of the largest groups on campus.

Two Florida bills would require the state's schools to follow a uniform sex-ed curriculum that includes discussion of contraceptives. Currently, districts are told they should teach abstinence, but school boards are nevertheless free to set their own sex-education policies, resulting in curriculum that often varies widely from one district to another.